Hackers Find Root Access to Android G1

Hackers of the XDA Forum found a simple hack to gain access to root privileges on the Android platform of G1 mobile phones.

The result is the potential of installing and using native Linux applications on the G1 and messing things up in the process.

Cause of the problem is a loophole in the Android PTerminal application. Using it to start a telnet daemon while in the system directory and then telneting from your PC into the phone's IP gives access to root, whereby all havoc can be raised.

The interesting thing is that the Android sandbox itself includes no Linux applications. Moreover, you develop applications using Dalvik VM, a virtual machine resembling Java VM that normal Java compilers don't know how to deal with.

Warning: Don't try this hack at home. Forum posters caution not to reproduce the hack unless you're absolutely sure about what you're doing. There's a risk of transforming the mobile phone into a useless brick or losing your work with the next Android update.

Related content

Thanks to a hack a few days ago, BusyBox has been running on the T-Mobile G1 mobile phones with Google's Android platform. Now Jay Freeman, alias saurik, goes a step further: in his blog he describes how to install Debian Lenny by way of root access on the device.

In one fell swoop and with an automatically distributed patch, Google and T-Mobile fixed a problem with the G1 mobile phone whereby users could access root privileges and possibly raise all kinds of havoc.